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Oct. 31, birthdays for Peter Jackson, Dan Rather, Vanilla Ice

Brooklyn Today

October 31, 2014 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
"Lord Of The Rings" director Peter Jackson celebrates his birthday today. AP photo
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Happy Halloween, Brooklyn.  Today is the 304th day of the year.

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ON THIS DAY in 1910, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled “Police Guard Wagons in Brooklyn Strike; One Arrest is Made.”

The article focused on a strike within a delivery company at the time, Adams Express Company.

“Fully prepared for a possible strike of the express wagon drivers and helpers in this borough and with an eye open for trouble, the wagons of the various companies were set out from the local depots to-day,” the Eagle reported.  “Eight employees of the Adams Express Company declined to go out because they feared that they might be protested…”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include former astronaut Michael Collins, who was born in 1931; “Days of Our Lives” actress Deidre Hall, who was born in 1948; “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy director Peter Jackson, who was born in 1961; former baseball player Frederick Stanley McGriff, who was born in 1963; musician Larry Mullen, who was born in 1961; “My Best Friend’s Wedding” actor Dermot Mulroney, who was born in 1963; journalist and television personality Jane Pauley, who was born in 1950; “Covert Affairs” actress Piper Perabo, who was born in 1976; journalist and former anchor of “CBS Evening News” Dan Rather, who was born in 1931; “The Crying Game” actor Stephen Rea, who was born in 1946; stage and screen actor Ron Rifkin, who was born in 1939; “Saturday Night Live” actor Rob Schneider, who was born in 1963; “M*A*S*H” actor David Ogden Stiers, who was born in 1942; and rapper and actor Vanilla Ice, who was born in 1967.  

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HALLOWEEN or All Hallows’ Eve is celebrated today.  Annually on Oct. 31, this holiday is an ancient celebration that combines Druid autumn festival and Christian customs.  Halloween is the beginning of Hallowtide, a season that embraces the Feast of All Saints on Nov. 1 and the Feast of All Souls on Nov. 2.  

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JOHN KEATS was born on this day in 1795.  Keats is known as one of England’s greatest poets.  He wrote to Fanny Brawne in 1820: “If I should die … I have no immortal work behind me — nothing to make my friends proud of my memory — but I have loved the principle of beauty in all thing and if I had had time I would have made myself remembered.”  He died at the age of 25 in 1821.  

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A BROOKLYN CIVIC CENTER Halloween Block Party will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. rain or shine on Johnson Street from Adams to Cadman Plaza West.  The event includes a lunchtime trick or treat, arts and crafts, food and more.  The event is presented by the 84th Precinct Community Council.  

TARGET FIRST SATURDAY, which celebrates Brooklyn’s art community, will take place from 5 to 9 p.m. on Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum.  The event includes films, performances, talks and more.  See www.brooklynmuseum.org for ticket information.  

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.  

 

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